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A War on Religion

By

Nina Shea

Updated July 31, 1998 1:12 a.m. ET

Since gaining independence from Britain in 1956, Sudan, Africa's largest country, has been plagued by instability and civil strife. A large part of it has stemmed, especially in recent years, from repeated attempts by the country's military rulers to declare Sudan an Islamic state and to impose strict Islamic law on Muslims and non-Muslims alike. In recent days we in the West have been assaulted, once again, by gruesome new evidence of famine, misery and death in Sudan. But even the best accounts often fail to note that religion--that is, religious persecution of the most deadly sort--is at the heart of the current crisis.